"Huh? Where the hell am I?"
Itoshi woke up in the middle of a dense jungle.
A narrow trail snaked up toward the mountain ahead. Confused, he looked around, trying to make sense of where he was. The only sounds were birds calling, insects buzzing, and the gentle rustle of leaves in the breeze.
He started walking along the path, the jungle thickening around him. At the top of the mountain, he found a temple unlike any he had ever seen.
Despite all the studies about temples he had in school, this one didn't fit any category — it wasn't quite Incan, nor Asian or Egyptian. It was something else entirely.
Curious, Itoshi stepped inside. Suddenly, a piercing cry of a hawk echoed through the temple halls. He froze and looked back. There, standing just beyond the shadows, was the white-haired woman again.
"Not yet. Go back,"
She whispered.
Before he could react, an invisible force yanked him backward, and he found himself pulled violently from the temple. Everything blurred—the stone, the shadows, the woman—and he woke up gasping, lying on a rock at Kin Beach.
Itoshi shrieked in terror, drenched in sweat. Kara, sitting beside him, wiped the sweat from his forehead with genuine concern.
"What happened? That dream again? Are you okay?"
"Yeah... it's her again. I'm fine. But where are we?"
Itoshi replied, his voice low and weak.
"You should lie down for a while. The storm just passed, and your wound—it's deep. It still needs treatment,"
Kara insisted, her small hands trembling as she reached for his bandages.
Itoshi shook his head, pushing himself up.
"We have to leave."
"What? Why?"
She blinked, confused.
"Treatment's expensive. You'll have to take care of it yourself. We don't have anything to pay for it,"
Itoshi stated flatly.
Kara's face flushed with frustration.
"You idiot! Forget the money. Your safety comes first! And it's selfish to think I can actually handle treating you!"
"You can, right?"
Itoshi looked at her, his eyes weary.
"Well... um... I guess?"
Kara muttered, her confidence wavering.
As they spoke, sudden panics echoed through the air. These shouts were different from the frantic rescue calls from before; they were laced with a primal, gut-wrenching terror.
"AHH! RUN!!"
"IT'S THE BEASTS!!!"
Kara looked around, her eyes widening as the atmosphere shifted from recovery to a massacre.
"Kara... Let's go..."
Itoshi commanded, his voice hardening as he forced his battered body to stand.
Kara nods, but before they could stand up.. A towering Größer als Männer Class Seele landed heavily behind Kara. Both their eyes widened in horror as the massive three-meter-tall creature snarled. Panic erupted around them — rescuers and victims scattered, running for cover.
The Seele's eyes twitched wildly as it locked onto Itoshi. Raising a massive hand to strike, it lunged forward.
But just before the attack landed, a man in a suit stepped in. With a swift motion, he blocked the strike with a spear.
It was Ryujin.
"Ayro! Get them out of here!"
Ryujin Ordered.
"Ughh..."
Ryujin shoved back the massive claw-like hand of the Seele just in time. Meanwhile, Ayro moved quickly, guiding Kara and Itoshi to a safer spot.
Ayro was tall, dressed all in black with a striking red tricorne atop his head. His red eyes scanned the scene intently.
As Ayro softly brought Kara and Itoshi down, he wondered.
"I wonder what this Größer saw in you."
"Aren't you going to help him?!"
Kara asked.
To which, Ayro simply replied.
"Nah, I can't."
Ryujin pressed his attack, landing multiple blows against the creature. The Seele growled in frustration, shifting with surprising agility as it tried to outmaneuver Ryujin.
Itoshi's eyes were wide open, Stunned.
"What the hell... those movements... so smooth. I've seen something like this before — back in school. Something related to water. Like... a laminar flow."
Ryujin dodged each strike with fluid grace, moving closer and closer to the creature. Then, with a sudden leap into the air, he found an opening.
"I see you."
Ryujin plunged his spear down, aiming straight for the nape of the Seele. The blow connected directly. The creature screeched in agony, a piercing sound that triggered the warning sirens meant for Seele attacks.
"Ah! That's Why it felt like something was missing."
Ayro jokingly muttered.
Suddenly, more Groß-class Seele began emerging from the field, their massive forms looming ominously.
"Crap. Oh! Hey, you. Blue-haired dude."
Ayro asked.
"W-what?"
Itoshi stammered, his mind struggling to keep up.
"You're a flame user, right?"
Ayro asked, his voice cutting through the noise of the surrounding chaos.
"Y-yeah... why?"
"Can you light that branch on fire?"
"S-sure...?"
Itoshi hesitantly reached out, setting a small fallen branch ablaze with a flicker of his willpower.
Ayro held his hand close to the flickering flame, watching the way the heat danced.
Then, using his magic, Dark, he neutralized the fire instantly, snuffing it into nothingness.
"Huh... so it's true. Your flame really is different."
"W-what?"
Ayro didn't explain. Instead, he pointed his finger toward the gray sky.
The tip ignited with a standard blue flicker, then he opened his palm, engulfing his whole hand in fire.
Turning his burning right hand toward the approaching Seele, he unleashed a burst of deep blue flame. A protective barrier flared up, a wall of azure heat separating him and the monsters, holding them back in their tracks.
"Hoh. You emit blue flame, huh? Well, that should hold them off... for now,"
Ayro noted.
"W-Why didn't you finish them?"
Kara asked, clutching her teddy bear tighter.
Ayro answered like it was the most normal question in the world.
"I simply can't."
"Ayro!!"
Ryujin's roar echoed from the thick of the fray as he fought.
"What?!"
Ayro shouted back.
"Guide the victims to a safe place!"
Ryujin ordered once more, his focus never wavering from the beasts.
"Copy that, boss."
With a blink, Ayro vanished into the panicked crowd, his movements a blur as he began clearing a path and leading the dazed survivors to safety.
Meanwhile, the Seele Ryujin had been battling began to crawl back to its feet. Ryujin smirked as he caught the beast's massive claw, the impact vibrating through the ground.
"Still not giving up, huh? You do realize you're going to die, right?"
The Seele let out a menacing, hollow howl.
"Oh well."
Ryujin struck several precise, bone-shattering blows to the creature's head. Despite the Seele's massive size, he forced it onto its knees, though Ryujin himself was starting to pant heavily.
"Let me free you... Spring Water Work."
Suddenly, the shattered ground beneath them vanished. The battlefield transformed into a calm, warm pool of water.
The gloomy, storm-ridden Okinawa sky brightened into a vivid, clear summer day. Capillary waves rippled outward from where Ryujin and the Seele faced off in this strange, serene space.
"It's warm, isn't it?"
The Seele froze, its eyes wide and reflecting the surrounding water, though its gaze remained locked on Ryujin. Raising his left hand, Ryujin summoned the water, watching as it swirled and gathered into a dense sphere in his palm.
With a powerful thrust, he sent the torrent crashing into the Seele. The creature howled one last time before it dissolved into a cloud of red dust.
Itoshi stood paralyzed in awe, watching the sheer ease with which Ryujin dismantled the monster.
"He... He defeated it."
Local authorities began to mobilize, evacuating the victims back to the Kin residential area under Ayro's guidance.
Men armed with flamethrowers—specialists from the U.W.D.S.—arrived to finish off the remaining Seele in the field. Soon, Ryujin and Ayro assisted Itoshi and Kara as they boarded a U.W.D.S. helicopter, banking away from the ruins and toward the station clinic in Okinawa.
Later, as Ryujin and Ayro prepared to leave the clinic room, Itoshi spoke up, his pride flaring.
"We didn't ask for any of this, you know?"
"H-hey... hold on..."
Kara muttered, embarrassed by Itoshi's sudden hostility.
"That's right. I don't expect you to trust me just because I saved you,"
Ryujin shot back quickly.
"Then why save us?"
Ryujin looked back over his shoulder, his eyes piercing.
"Because I hate seeing weak people getting left behind."
Itoshi gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white as he finished clenching the soft white blanket.
"Weak? Damn you."
"Yes, weak," Ryujin repeated without a hint of hesitation.
"You don't even know how I ended up like that, idiot,"
Itoshi growled.
Ryujin finally turned around to face the boy completely.
"You were caught off guard by an oncoming wave. That massive wound? From a falling tree."
Itoshi jolted back, sitting upright on the bed despite the pain.
"H-how did you know that?"
"Strong ones just know,"
Ryujin replied bluntly. He opened the door and stepped out, his and Ayro's footsteps beginning to fade down the hall.
Itoshi sat in silence, fighting his own ego. He looked down at his hands, his voice barely audible as the footsteps grew distant.
"Thank you..."
Ryujin paused in the hallway.
"Hm?"
"For protecting me and Kara,"
Itoshi continued, still refusing to look up.
With a small smile, Ryujin called back.
"Get stronger. Recover. I'll be waiting. Let's go, Ayro."
"Copy that,"
Ayro replied.
And then, they were gone. Kara urged Itoshi to lie back down; the wound was severe, and the blood loss had brought him to the brink of death. The risk of infection was a shadow hanging over his recovery.
Doctors and nurses from the U.W.D.S. took over, tending to both of them with a level of care they had never experienced.
Two weeks later, feeling the strength return to his limbs, Itoshi prepared to visit what was left of his home. He wasn't going alone; Kara was right by his side.
~~~To be Continued~~~